UFC 146 Predictions: Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva

In a few hours, the former UFC heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez, will square off against one of four men to defeat Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva.

Originally, Cain was going to fight Frank Mir, and Silva was going to fight Roy Nelson, but after the Alistair Overeem debacle, the fights were switched and ended up as what they are now.

Cain comes into the fight needing to make a statement after suffering a knockout loss to Junior dos Santos in just 64 seconds.

Prior that that, Cain had been 9-0 with eight finishes, all by some form of knockout.

His fight with Silva is likely a No. 1 contender match for him.

Bigfoot is in a similar situation, one where he needs a win to stick around in the top of the division.

Silva is 16-3 in his career, and was being pegged as a dark horse of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix after his defeat of Fedor.

However, Silva became the first victim in Daniel Cormier's path to declaring himself a threat in the heavyweight division, as Cormier knocked out Silva in just under four minutes.

Prior to that loss, Silva was on a three-fight winning streak having defeated Fedor, Mike Kyle and Andrei Arlovski.

Many expect this to be a quick knockout victory for Cain Velasquez, as Cain's training partner is Daniel Cormier, and therefore has insight into how to knock out Antonio Silva.

With that in mind, expect Cain to pull out an early knockout victory in the first round, and get set up for a potential rematch against Junior dos Santos.

Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow him on Twitter @TimMcTiernan.